The subject -- more like a buzzword around the Chargers -- was “communication.”

Days after the Chargers were picked apart by Tom Brady and the New England Patriots and cited lack of communication on defense as a primary problem, indeed, cornerback Antoine Cason was trying to think of the best way to communicate his own thoughts on communication.

“Here’s an equivalent everyone can relate to,” he said. “It’s like dating a girl.”

Uh-oh. Careful now.

“I’m serious,” said Cason, earnestly. “It’s about chemistry. We have several new guys on our defense. For myself, Eric (Weddle) and (Quentin) Jammer, this is our fourth year together in the secondary, so we have our own communication developed.

“Now you incorporate other guys and, yeah, it’s like when you move from one relationship to another. It’s going to be different, going to take a little time to develop your own communication.”

And patience. That’s a commodity in extremely short supply in the NFL, where you only get 16 chances to get it right. It’s especially true in a lockout year wherein there were no team-organized off-season workouts of any kind. Some of the top players didn’t even sign until July 30 and had to wait until a week before the exhibition opener to practice.

“You really want to get to the point to where you can talk without saying a word, just by looking at each other,” said veteran inside linebacker Takeo Spikes, one of the half-dozen new starters on a San Diego defense that allowed fewer yards than any other NFL team last year. “That’s the ultimate goal, what we’re really trying to work for. I’ve never been on a team where we were like that early in the season.”

Spikes, in effect, is the defense’s minister of information. He takes the call from new defensive coordinator Greg Manusky – for whom Spikes also played with the San Francisco 49ers – and relays it to both the defensive line and secondary. Weddle, the free safety, usually fields the call from Spikes and disseminates it to his fellow defensive backs.

Now, the maximum 40 seconds between snaps in the NFL should allow plenty of time for the “call” and proper adjustment to work its way around a defense. And then you play the Patriots, whose masterful quarterback and Formula One offense causes lots of problems for a defense.

Lots of scrambling. Lots of scurrying. Lots and lots of screaming.

“In the no-huddle, we’re all yelling,” said Weddle. “It’s verbal, but also using hand signals. TK (Spikes) is calling the defense. I look to him so I can relay it to all the DBs to make sure we’re all on the same page. Then we have to make sure everyone else is on the same page. Sometimes a guy gets it, sometimes he doesn’t.

“I’ve got to do a better job of that. If they don’t get it, I may have to go up and grab the guy and say, 'Hey, look, this is what we’re in.’ But we’re learning. We believe in what we’re doing and we’ll get better.”

The consensus among the Chargers, who admit it took them virtually the entire first half to get in rhythm with the Pats’ torrid pace, is that they got engulfed in a perfect storm of sorts Sunday. New guy calling the shots. New defenders. New defense, to a minor extent. New England.

The challenge of playing the Pats’ no-huddle, especially so early in the season, and precision of New England's skill players made for open receivers and 23 passes for first downs. Less-gifted teams that also use the quick-draw offense -- with the obvious exception of the Indianapolis Colts, and only with Peyton Manning on the field -- should be more manageable by a decent defense.

Whether the communication breakdowns came against the Patriots of New England or Patrick Henry High, though, the Chargers clearly are trying to get their signals straight. Word around Chargers Park is that the defensive approach at New England – and most notably the absence of pressure on Brady -- raised hackles throughout the organization.

Only 13 times did the Chargers blitz at New England, yet on eight of those plays, Brady completed eight passes for 130 yards and a touchdown. That's how the Chargers got both sacks, but Brady's quarterback rating of 142.2 was nearly 11 points higher against the blitz than on non-blitz plays.

In sum, he was Tom Brady being Tom Brady.

“Last week was last week,” said Manusky, whom the team only allows to be interviewed on Fridays, not after games. “We learned our lesson. We’re moving forward and moving on.”

For the time being, New England is behind the Chargers. This weekend’s arrival of the struggling, IR-depleted Kansas City Chiefs -- albeit the team that took the AFC West championship from San Diego last year -- would seem a well-timed godsend.

In fact, the only reason the Patriots don’t have the NFL’s top scoring-offense in the NFL is that the two teams ranked ahead of them, Buffalo and Detroit, combined to total 89 points in consecutive blowouts of Kansas City.